Animus Online
by Nonspes
Summary: Desmond leaves the confined world of the Animus and enters a completely new area. However, trouble seems to follow him everywhere. Welcome to Animus Online. Post ACII.
1. Start

**I do not own Assassin's Creed or its characters. It all belongs to the excellent team at Ubisoft.**

The streets of Rome had begun to rouse from the sleep of the night; rumors of the Vatican being breached and the Pope assaulted were beginning to make its way through the gossipers. Groups of citizens began to appear and head to work, worry and disbelief etched on their faces at the rumors they could not confirm.

The sudden yells through the street caused many groups to glance up from the discussions. Many of them cried out in surprise as they were shoved aside by a man clothed in white. The snobbish nobles were quick to express their disgust to the thought of contact with lower-class mongrel, brushing off whatever might have gotten on them during the short contact. Before they could gather back together to gossip on how guards should treat slaves who run about like that, guards pushed the nobles aside in the same fashion.

It never ceased to amaze Ezio on why the guards bothered to carry such heavy weaponry. Especially when they could not use it on someone they could not catch up to. A sudden cry ahead snapped his attention back to where he was running towards. More guards had appeared from the streets ahead and cut off Ezio's escape path. The assassin slowed down, it would not be wise to run his self through with their sharpened blades and spear tips. The Templars surrounded him in a tight circular formation, sly grins making their way up their faces due to their success.

With a flick of his wrist, the Hidden Blades appeared with a smooth -shick-. He grinned on the inside as he heard the guard's exclamations as twin blades now extended from Ezio's wrist. The sound of his boots scraping against the ground rang out as he adjusted his stance to leap towards the Templars.

"Hold it right there Assassin!" Ezio turned to face the man while keeping his blades at the ready, a giant of a man stood ahead of him, his massive form covered in fur with a blood red splotch resembling the Templar's cross smeared across the fur.

Stopping less than 5 meters away, he swung his war hammer from its resting position on his shoulder and into the ground, causing the earth to shake and spider web cracks to spread across the walkway.

"I'm one of the captains of the Templar Knights Order, I do not wish for these citizens to watch me pummel you to death," A couple of the Templars snickered while Ezio continued to glare at the man "We have you surrounded so why don't you surrender now and make my life easier?" The captain nonchantly requested, seeming to find greater interest on the back of his hand as he inspected it.

"Glad I'm making your life harder_ stronzo_," The Florentine Assassin swiftly replied before letting loose his last three throwing knives towards the captain. Ezio's focus was torn away from the captain as a Templar tried to stab him, he felt rather disappointed he could not see the knives sinking into the captain's flesh. The thump of metal sinking into flesh and his howl of pain more or less made up for it.

"_Let's see how well these idiotas can fight_," Ezio thought as he deflected a dagger with the hidden blade's vambraces. His second hidden blade parted the flesh of the Templar's weapon arm, weakening his hold on his dagger. Ezio could feel the warmness of his blood as it covered his gloves. The Templar was about to cry out in pain just as he was kicked away, the thud of the boot against his stomach choking the scream.

"_Not very well it seems_," Ezio thought smugly to himself.

Ezio felt the world fade to monochrome as his senses sharpen to its highest state. He was no longer seeing. From his mind's eyes, he could see the distinct forms of his enemies showered in a red hue. Each action of the Templars, their stance, their sounds of their breathing became obvious to Ezio, no matter how minute they were. He heard the clanking of armour moving, feeling a guard change his stance to stab him with a knife.

Sparks flew as the blades clashed. As he held him back, Ezio sized the man up. He had left a surprising hole in his stance; perhaps he did not expect the assassin to be as lowly as to attack him there. He didn't have time for honor on the battlefield was what Ezio thought before sending an armored boot into the man's groin. The Templar fell to his side just as another prepared to land a blow with a sword. His aura flared aggressively but he was no threat. Splotches of blood soaked the Florentine Assassin's arm as he sank the dagger into the Templar's throat. The Templar could only gurgle in surprise as his lifeblood flooded out of his neck. Ezio snatched the weapon out of the mid-air as the man's lifeless body fell.

Ezio caught another blow with the sword, feeling the blow travel through his body. The Templar grunted, adding more force into his claymore. Another Templar saw his chance to gain recognition, tightening his grip around his spear, it shot forward, ready to mortally wound the assassin in the ribs from behind.

"_Fools," _He pushed hard against the claymore, sending the Templar backwards. The Templar glared at the challenge and swung his blade with all his force as a reply. A sly grin made its way up his face as he flipped over the rash counter attack. With nothing to stop his force, he stumbled forward, his guts getting pierced by the spear meant for the assassin. His claymore cleaved straight through the spearman's helmet, stopping just below his eye. They fell like puppets with their strings cut before Ezio landed on the ground, their blood staining the floor as they bled.

Flesh was separated from flesh as the assassin weaved in and out of the Templar's strikes while landing killing blows. The walkway had become crimson with the blood of the Templars. Ezio fended off another Templar, their numbers gave an advantage that he could not outfight. The chance of defeating them all and escaping was steadily becoming smaller. He flexed a muscle in his left arm; a barely audible click rang out as the weapon shifted modes. "_Time for a change in tactics," _Ezio thought.

A few more enemies tried to strike him while he parried their blows and barely nicked them thanks to their wariness. Ezio grinded his teeth as he got parried with a sword and almost run through by a spear. A rush of air was his only warning as he barely sidestepped a war hammer's blow. The rage in the aura made the rest of the Templars seem small. Ezio steadied himself and came face to face with the captain, this time with a small wound on his arm and shoulder with a cut on his cheek.

"I won't miss a second time," the captain growled out, giving the assassin only a brief respite before bringing the hammer up for another blow. Ezio dodged his blows easily, however he was amazed at the endurance and strength the man had. He swung the heavy weapon like it was a sword, yet his face betrayed no sign of tiring.

Suddenly the captain thrust forward, using the cross on the top of the hammer like a spear; Ezio spun aside avoiding the attack. The assassin noticed the captain lips curl into a smirk, there was something wrong. Glancing at the hammer, it had stopped mid thrust and was making its way to his arm. The Florentine Assassin hastily raised a defense with the sword he had taken from the guards. Steel met steel, and for a moment it seemed the blade had stopped the heavy blow of the hammer.

Just as Ezio thought of following up with a counter, the hammer's force snapped the integrity of the sword, blasting the assassin aside and into a wooden market store. The goods flew about in disarray as the boards split under the combined power of Ezio's weight and the war hammer's blow.

The captain stood there smugly before motioning for his soldiers to move in. The Templars moved in warily as they prepared to arrest the assassin, weapons ready to kill him if he still resisted. The wooden frames of the stall tumbled aside as they searched for the assassin. His groaning alerted them to his position; soon they found him lying with his body splayed out, like an eagle shot down from the sky. A Templar reached for his manacles to arrest the assassin when suddenly another Templar soldier swung his battleaxe into his fellow soldier's chest, throwing him aside as blood spurted out of his mouth. Another Templar got stabbed by the Templar behind him, many of them started to swing their weapons deliriously, injuring the rest of the soldiers.

The captain cried out amidst the chaos while defending himself from his own troops, "What witchery is this?"

"Looks like your men can't take a little poison _sciocco_," The assassin answered coolly, already out of the broken stall. He ducked to avoid a wild claymore before back flipping into the air and throwing a smoke bomb, sending the Templars into further confusion as they lost certainty of who were their friends and their sight. Ezio landed on a nearby ledge, watching them kill one another. He gave a mock salute to the captain, leaving him struggling to put down his own men without getting killed.

He grabbed on the edge of a balcony and climbed on the rooftops of Rome, heading towards the docks. Away from the cries of pain and induced madness.

He reached the docks with no further confrontation. It seemed he had travelled faster than word of mouth; the guards did not even bother checking anyone and simply acted as if they were scrutinizing everyone. Ezio hid himself in the crowd, covering the worst of the blood stains with his cloak. He could not afford chances. "_Not now when escape is so close_," He thought to himself.

He found the ship that his fellow assassin, Antonio had sent earlier under the guise of trading goods. The clacking of his boots alerted the captain to his presence. The captain looked up from some papers on his hand and raised a brow at Ezio's bloodstained clothing.

"Antonio sent me," he said while looking towards the dock gates.

"Did he? Well we better get a move on then," He replied glancing up before going to edge of the ship and hollering, "Hey! Hurry up and move that cargo! We're leaving before noon!"

The captain directed Ezio through the cramped corridors of the ship's interior. The room he brought Ezio to seemed fairly well furnished, at least he had a bed. The captain walked out to let him rest, reminding him of the journey's length.

The bed creaked as the sea worn wood adjusted to his weight as he lay on it. So many questions buzzed though his mind. Who exactly was the woman named Minerva talking to if it was not him? What did the Apple have to do with all this other than revealing a map and casting illusions at his whim? He had left the staff back at the Vatican, it would be safe now that he had threatened and broken the spirit of the Spaniard, or as the people here knew him as, the Pope. He would not try and do anything with the staff any longer.

He pushed the troubling thoughts away and relaxed himself, once he was back at Venezia, he could consult the other assassins and Leonardo. They would know something. He removed his armor and rubbed medicine over the bruise that he received from the captain. The sting helped him forget his thoughts as he lay back on the bed to rest.

The view of the ceiling became darkness as his eyes closed. The flicker of coding in the Animus began to show as it fast forwarded the journey. A sudden discoloration told Desmond that he was being disconnected from the Animus. Soon the lines of code disappeared and he was looking from his own eyes at yet another ceiling. He sat up on the Animus and waited for his vision to focus, he realized he was still in the van which they had used to escape from the hideout.

"What happened?" Desmond rasped out with his water deprived throat to no one in particular.

"What happened is that we need to move my baby, but we can't if you're on it."

Desmond glanced up and squinted as a blast of light hit his eyes, he barely made out Rebecca's form. He looked puzzled for a sign of a baby, before remembering that was what she liked to call the Animus. Her hand reached out to him, he grasped it and pulled himself up. He steadied himself and got out of the van.

Desmond's eyes got used to the light quickly and he got surprised at what greeted him. A huge white area, with practice equipment and obstacles put strategically around. He did not have time to see more as he heard a familiar voice call out from behind.

"Hey assassin, go make yourself useful," Desmond looked back and saw Shaun holding out a box of papers to him, "See if you can bring this to Lucy in the main room without getting lost."

Desmond took the box and glanced at the obstacle course warily before asking, "Where's that?"

The brown haired man looked back as he replied snidely while arranging more papers, "Asking for directions already?"

Rebecca's head popped out of the van, scowling at Shaun, "Give him a break Shaun, he hasn't been here before," Turning to look at Desmond she answered his question "It's in the middle of the entire course."

Desmond nodded and walked towards the course, blocking out Shaun's voice as he yelled after him, "Try not to get lost there!"

As Desmond walked through it, he could see what it actually was. It looked like someone had ripped out different environments and fused them into the ultimate obstacle course. He felt like he was walking through almost every kind of environment, from car parks to the inside of a large building.

"Where is this place?" Desmond mused as his footsteps echoed around him. Suddenly he noticed a strangely clear space in the course.

It was not much of a room, considering it had no walls. But the space around it, away from the course made it obvious it was its own space. A second Animus lay there, looking rather lonely with almost nothing around it. A blond haired woman stood with her back to him, typing on a laptop.

Desmond cleared his throat and spoke "Someone needed this?"

Lucy spun around and smiled as she saw Desmond "Thanks for bringing that here."

"No problem," Desmond replied as he set the box down on a table, "Where is this place?"

Lucy replied with an air of pride, "Welcome to the Assassin's main HQ, the Eagle's Nest."

Thanks for reading!

It's a post-AC2 fanfic. Luckily I made it more for the present time since Brotherhood is coming out.

You'll find out why I named the title that way soon!


	2. Interception

**I do not own Assassin's Creed. All property belongs to Ubisoft.**

* * *

Desmond felt warmth dancing across his skin. His eyes flickered open and squinted almost immediately. The rising sun's rays pierced through the thin fabric of the curtain and landed on his face. He sat up and stretched his arms, trying to get rid of the tiredness his sleep had left behind.

It had been some time since he slept on a proper bed, being chased by Abstergo and reliving an ancestor's memories, escaping Abstergo only to relive more genetic memories did not leave much time for it.

He remembered how he reacted when Lucy showed him the disguise of the Eagle's Nest. A simple lodge at the side of the mountain, constructed to hide the entrance to the massive underground hideout that hid in the mountains. He could vaguely remember his jaw hanging loose as Lucy showed him around the training room, vehicle garage and pretty much every square inch of the place. His legs felt sore from walking around so long. "_Who knew the Assassins were so bloody rich?" _

He stretched a little more and felt the familiar tingle across his skin of someone watching him. He turned around, expecting to see one of the other Assassins. His eyes laid themselves on a hooded man in white robes. He was bending towards the Desmond; his hand looking like they were reaching to grab him.

Desmond felt time slow down as his sense accelerated to their highest levels; he instinctively smacked the hooded man's arms away and flicked his wrist for the hidden blade to slide out. He could not feel nor hear the mechanisms sliding into place. "_Where the hell is it?"_

He spied his weapon lying on the drawer to the right of his bed, removed just before he fell into his well deserved sleep. His senses gave the Hidden Blade the white hue of a weapon. Another object coated in white light was closer, but it was not exactly an ideal weapon.

"_No time to be fussy," _Desmond thought as he picked up the mug of water and hurled it at the hooded man. The man ducked in time, causing a hundred ceramic pieces to fly across the room with a smash against the wall.

The springs in the bed creaked as he leapt over it with one hand supporting him as he crossed it. His foot flew out, landing on the man's arms that rose in defense. The hooded man flew back and grunted as he hit the wall. Desmond grabbed the hidden blade and latched it on with the speed of two lifetimes of experience. With a smooth -shick-, the blade slid out. Desmond glared at the man and prepared to question him at knife-point.

Suddenly the door burst open; slamming into the wall with an unearthly bang. Desmond glanced just for a second to see it was Lucy in a white shirt and jeans; he went back to looking at the hooded man with his weapon arm poised to strike.

Keeping his eyes on the man, he said "Stay away Lucy, this man was going to-"

"Wake you up sleepyhead," Lucy replied before walking over and helping the man up. Desmond's instincts faded away as he lowered the hidden blade. That was when he realised he felt no hostility coming from the man at all. Surprise washed over him as he muttered an apology to the man. The hooded man bowed and hurried out of the room.

"Uh…Who was that guy?" Desmond asked once the door closed.

"He's one of the Creed's Acolytes," Lucy replied matter-of-factly.

"Right," Desmond nodded while stroking his chin "And what the hell are they doing in this so called top secret base?"

"Who do you think kept this place in working order while no one was using it?"

Desmond just continued to stroke his chin, doubt already forming in his mind. Lucy sighed before walking over and putting her hands on his shoulders.

"Don't worry Desmond, they've been sworn to secrecy and much more," She told him, "This place is probably the safest place you'll ever be in."

"I didn't avoid the Templars by hoping the place I holed up in for the night was safe."

"I was one of the people who built this place and I'm telling you it's safe."

Desmond's eyebrows lifted incredulously before he replied, "Well that puts things in a whole new perspective."

Lucy smiled and Desmond felt his heart flutter for a bit. The rays of the rising sun landed softly on her face, making it glow softly. Desmond noticed her hair fell to her shoulders instead of being tied up into her usual pony tail. The sun's rays just made it more beautiful than anything Desmond laid his eyes on.

It was then when they both realised this was the first time they were both alone in a room with no cameras or people watching. Lucy looked into Desmond's eyes and whispered, "This war isn't going to get any easier."

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips and he gave into it. He reached towards her head and twirled with her hair. He looked at her and replied, "We'll fight and stop whatever those aliens predicted. I'll make sure I save everyone…" He stared into her sapphire eyes for a little longer, "…especially you."

Lucy's cheeks instantly burst into a bright shade of red before she turned away. A tear, shining like a crystal from the sunlight rolled down before she turned back. Desmond leaned in slowly, his head cocking to the side. Lucy mirrored him and closed her eyes. Their lips met and Desmond felt them melt. His fingers ran through his silky hair and his lips remained locked to hers. Everything else seemed to fade out until there was only him and her.

"How long does it take to wake one idiot up?" An irritated voice yelled from below.

Lucy and Desmond broke apart in surprise and stared at the door for a second before bursting into laughter. It could only be Shaun.

"C'mon we'd better get down for breakfast before the chef gets angry," Lucy told Desmond before walking towards the door.

Desmond slipped into his sneakers and hurried down the stairs. He caught up with Lucy and asked, "Chef? You mean Shaun can cook?"

"It doesn't look possible does it? But it is and he can whip up one mean French toast," Lucy replied while a smirk played across her lips.

They both reached the ground floor and Desmond noticed Rebecca setting her laptop on to the dining table while sitting down, one hand coming up to cover a yawn. She gave a salutary wave before her tired eyes widened in surprise, staring past Desmond.

He turned to his right and barely managed to keep his laughter in. Shaun stood in an open kitchen, spatula in one hand and the other holding a frying pan with scrambled eggs on it. More importantly, his clothes were covered by a bright pink apron covered in frills with the words "Kiss the Chef" knitted on. Shaun glanced at Rebecca's expression and fired off a glare at her.

"Regrettably this was the only apron in the whole place that was not being washed," Shaun grumbled out, poking the eggs with his spatula.

Lucy stared wide eyes in amazement for a moment before muttering quietly, "The Acolytes actually did what I asked."

The silence seemed to last for eternity until Desmond burst out into laughter, soon Rebecca and Lucy joined in. He could barely manage to keep himself standing and Rebecca banging the table with the fist. It left Shaun unable to decide who to glower. His cheeks flared close to colour of a tomato as he tried to glare at all three of them. He focused it onto Lucy and said, "Oh ha ha very funny Lucy, now sit down and let Rebecca explain to the dumb assassin what we're going to do later."

Rebecca's face went from laughing to a very cold and serious expression before she started talking. "Yes Desmond there's a lot of explaining to do-"

"Finally someone who's talking sense!" Shaun exclaimed, rolling his eyes towards the sky.

"-now sit down before the chef makes you kiss him," She continued.

The trio burst out laughing leaving Shaun throwing nasty glares at everyone before dumping the eggs on the four plates on the table. He dunked the pan into the basin and ripped the apron off. He continued to glare at the three of them he sat down before turning his attention to his own laptop.

Desmond looked at his plate of eggs, bacon and French toast and realised his stomach was growling for some food. He dug in and understood what Lucy had meant by a "mean" French toast. Perfectly fried with just the right amount of butter and syrup; it was heavenly. His eating speed increased and soon he was wolfing down the contents of the plate down.

Once the plate was empty, Desmond licked his lips and wiped them on a napkin. He looked around and realised everyone else was engrossed in their own work. Shaun and Rebecca were typing away at their laptops while Lucy was looking through some papers. Desmond sipped on a glass of water for a while before breaking the silence.

"So what needed explaining?"

Rebecca looked up from her plate with a slice of French toast wedged in her mouth with confusion showing in her eyes. Shaun wiped his mouth with his own napkin and answered, "The Animus Online system Rebecca, explain it slowly so he won't explode from information overload."

Desmond threw daggers with his eyes at Shaun, stopping only when Rebecca hurriedly swallowed down the toast and began to speak.

"Well the idea of the Animus Online came up when the Creed needed a way to communicate with a huge number of Assassins at the same time, teleconferencing was out of the question since the data transmission was massive and the Templars would have picked it up," Rebecca looked back at her laptop's screen and started tapping a few keys, "Hang on let me show you how it works."

Lucy finished her meal and continued for Rebecca, "Meeting under one roof would be too dangerous and some Assassins have many other important things to do instead of flying about to meet other Assassins."

Desmond's eyebrow lifted and he asked, "Do they do that many missions?"

"Some of them are really important people in the world; they can't just go missing every now and then."

"Ah hah! Found it," Artificial light from the laptop glowed onto Desmond's face as Rebecca turned the laptop to face him. He saw a diagram of several shapes, recognizing one of them as the Animus 2.0. Pointing at a circle with the words "subject" on it that had a line linked to the Animus, Rebecca continued, "Normally the Animus creates a massive virtual world and places whatever memories the subject has of that place in a certain point of time."

She tapped a key and the diagram changed, the Animus was now had several lines linking more "subjects" to it. "Now we're just tweaking it to allow multiple human consciousnesses into one world and letting them roam about with one Animus acting as the server."

"So they can have their meeting there?" Desmond said.

Shaun replied to what he said with a tone dripping with sarcasm, "He actually got it in one go."

Desmond ignored him and asked curiously, "Can the Animus do that?"

Lucy nodded and replied, "Theoretically, it's possible."

"Baby might not look like it but it's slightly less powerful than a supercomputer. A small boost from the servers here and it should work perfectly." Rebecca explained.

"And if it doesn't?" Desmond pushed a bit.

Shaun crossed his arms and gave a small laugh, "You and several more important people will become vegetables."

Rebecca scowled at him and continued, "The possibility of that happening is really small, and the three of us were part of the team that worked on the code, so don't worry about it."

Desmond nodded slowly and asked, "So when do we start?"

Desmond entered the underground facility of the Eagle's Nest again and still couldn't believe that they carved it into the side of a mountain. The lift to the real face of the Eagle's Nest was hidden in the cabin's library. Whilst the elevator moved them deeper underground, Desmond could see almost all of the facility through the clear glass panes.

With a -ding- the lift reached the ground floor and the group headed towards the centre of the training field. More Acolytes were walking about carrying boxes, linking wires to a massive grey shape behind the Animus 2.0 and Abstergo's Animus.

"Where did you guys get one of Abstergo's Animuses? It's not like you could have sneaked it out right?"

Shaun's lips curled into a grin as he replied, "Same way the other Assassin groups got their own to connect and hold this meeting, the transport carrying them just happened to have a faulty lock on its door, an Animus fell out and some people found it and gave it to us. Nice of them isn't it?"

Desmond laughed at the joke and asked another question, "Why do we need another one? Don't we have the 2.0?"

Lucy smiled and answered, "Some of the Assassins wanted to meet you; I needed to talk to them about Abstergo and our future plans. So we needed two."

Desmond mouth shaped itself into an "o" at the simple answer and he continued walking.

The group reached the Animi and started to get ready. Shaun and Rebecca with their computers; Desmond and Lucy with their own Animus. With a soft hum, the Animus activated. Lights started to flicker on the grey shapes.

Desmond looked at the lights as he lay down on the Animus, "What are those things?"

"Huh?" Lucy said as she turned to look at where Desmond's eyes where facing, "Oh! Those are the servers Rebecca was talking about."

Rebecca nodded and replied while her fingers flew across the computer's keyboard, "What's even better is that they use Abstergo's networks to connect to the other Animi," She wheeled around on her chair and faced him, "And it's coded with our own algorithm, they won't notice it and if they do, they wouldn't be able to crack it."

"Cool," Desmond said with his eyebrow raised.

"All that work and the great assassin just says cool?" Shaun grumbled out from his corner.

Rebecca rolled her eyes at the comment and tapped a few keys before facing Lucy and Desmond again, "All systems are go, just one last thing to do."

She reached into the back of the Animus 2.0 and pulled out the catheter. Desmond groaned at its appearance but raised his arm out. "Make it quick."

The catheter stabbed into his skin but he did not flinch from the pain like before. He glanced at it and said, "You know compared to the injuries Ezio had, this feels like nothing."

"Someone's finally manning up hmm?" Shaun said as he prepared Lucy's catheter.

Desmond ignored him again and stared at Lucy's eyes. His nervous heart slowed down as he stared into the deep blue ocean that seemed to go on and on in those eyes. She saw him watching and smiled back before flinching as the catheter cut into her skin. "_She's beautiful no matter what situation."_

"We'll be sending Lucy in first with the coded information we have," Rebecca said to them as she continued tapping away, "Lucy it's going to appear as the Apple, that piece of Eden thing."

Lucy nodded and her eyes closed. Desmond stared at her still body. _"Was that how I looked like? Damn it's like I'm dead on that thing."_

"Desmond, you ready?" Rebecca asked.

Desmond gave her a thumbs up and his vision began to blur. His arms grew heavy and he felt all his senses going dark. A sudden flash of light sparked and all his senses started to take in the white endless space. The loading zone. He had been here before to access the next memory. Codes flickered about and white lines blurred in and out of existence.

"We're loading your skin, it's what you're going to look like to everyone in the Animus Online so we made as close as possible to how you really look like," Desmond's hoodie and jeans loaded and he realised he was just a floating head just now.

A sudden thought popped into his head as he waited. He never tried using his Eagle Vision in this place before. "_Wonder what it does."_

His senses kicked into overdrive and he could see further into the endless whiteness. The lines became sharper and he could read the long lines of coding clearly now. "_Useless huh?"_

Desmond heard Shaun's voice boom out from all around him, as if the very air had started talking. "We're loading you into the Animus Online, we're using the template of Venice for a meeting spot, and you should be seeing it soon."

Buildings started to spring up from the white ground, which had already become the stone walkways of Venice. Lucy appeared and gave a small wave. Desmond watched a tower explode towards the sky before shimmering and becoming as real as the buildings he saw outside of the Animus. He realised his Eagle Vision heightened his senses high enough he could see every detail appear slowly, far too slowly. He got ready to stop it when he noticed a great surge of crimson red bursting out in front of him.

It exploded upwards like all the buildings but it did not stop even after it shot higher than all the towers around. Just as it seemed to go on forever, it smashed against an invisible barrier in the sky. At first it looked like it would stop there but it simply spread where it could. It fanned out across the sky, scorching the clouds and making the blue sky bleed. Desmond realised it was only spreading in four directions. It became obvious what it was, a vermillion cross etched on to the sky.

"Rebecca, what the hell is happening?" Lucy spoke aloud knowing she could hear her.

"Something's wrong. Someone managed to hack into the system. We're going to log you guys off now. Hold still." Rebecca's voice crackled into both their heads.

Desmond continued looking at the beam of red light and noticed a black form appearing. It stepped out of the light and did not seem the least harmed at all. His long black cloak had a hoodie which obscured most of his face except for his lips. He looked about and when his eyes fell on Lucy, the lips curled into a twisted smile. He raised a hand and motioned with a finger for her to come.

Lucy and Desmond stepped back in response to his movement. Desmond flicked his wrist and discovered he was unarmed again when he needed a weapon the most. He raised his fists and recollected all the street fighting moves Ezio knew. He was ready to fight, but not ready for what came next.

Lucy floated up into the air and started moving towards the hooded man. Nothing was grabbing onto her and nothing was below her. Desmond eyes widened in surprise and he reached out to grab her on instinct. Before he could reach her, a sudden flare of crimson red sprayed out from beside him and a hand anchored onto his own.

Desmond followed the arm and saw another hooded man using his free hand to wag a finger at him. The finger curled back into the hand and the fist smashed into Desmond's guts. Ezio got hit by a hammer in the stomach once while fighting; it felt like his stomach was being wedged between boulders. This felt like nothing like it. His guts twisted and shredded apart in his body as his feet left the ground. Another spray of crimson appeared but this time it came from his lips.

His breath left him as he hit the ground. He forced himself to get up and take a huge gasp of air, holding back the blood that was ready to spill out. He glanced up and saw the hooded man dashing towards him, fist pulled back, ready to unleash another blow.

The fist launched ahead of the hooded man, Desmond could see it flare up in a red hue. The man's movements were simple and direct, too easy to counterattack; Desmond dodged the fist at the last moment and threw his own into the hooded man's guts. With a thump of flesh hitting flesh, the man doubled over and leaned heavily onto Desmond's arms. "_Now we're fair."_

Desmond leaned forwards and got ready to set the body out when the man's hand flew up like lightning and wrapped around his throat. The man stood up and lifted Desmond off his feet, he could feel the fingers digging into his skin and crushing his windpipe. Black spots started to swim in front of his vision, blotting out the Eagle Vision.

He glanced up and saw Lucy being arm locked by a hooded lady. His senses were starting to blur, he could barely hear her yelling at him. Instinct took over and he started to kick at the man, his shoes thudded against the man but it was kicking steel.

His breaths slowly came in gasps now; he could barely squeeze any air down his throat. The black spots in his vision started to swell and his kicks weakened as they grew. He focused on Lucy and saw her mouthing-or was she actually speaking? He couldn't tell. He only knew that her lips formed the words 'sorry' over and over again.

Suddenly air rushed down into his lungs and his head pounded from the sudden increase in oxygen. His head still swam from giddiness but at least the black spots were fading. He realised he was looking at the floor of the main room. Drops of blood contrasted against the stark white floor. His foot threatened to give way when he stood, barely managing to stay straight. Acolytes surrounded him and started to wipe the blood, feeling his pulse, removing the catheter and shining a small torch into his eye.

He hardly noticed any of that, his eyes remained fixed on the second Animus. Lucy lay on it, her expression serene and almost like she was asleep. Her chest rose and fell from her breathing but other than that sign of life, Lucy Stillman looked just like before Desmond entered the Animus Online. Except she did not wake up with him. She was stuck in there.

* * *

**Sorry if that took long! Thanks to all those who reviewed and favourited! Means a lot =)  
Review on what parts you really like and those that you think need some work!  
Or just fave for support! Thanks again!**

**Till next time!**


	3. ReEntry

**I do not own Assassin's Creed. It all belongs to the excellent team at Ubisoft.

* * *

**

Altair watched the people of Masyaf from its highest point, within this small traversable region. Like mice they scrambled about, doing whatever they did for a living. Mimicking the emperor of the skies, he watched them, but could not help but wonder why he did so. There was something he needed to do. Yes, it was something, somewhere below.

He stepped forward and felt the air greet him as he plummeted towards the ground. The speed he fell towards ground would have shaken many to their core, but from his experienced view it almost seemed peacefully slow.

Altair eased his body as the haystack grew closer in anticipation of its soft embrace.

The Assassin barely noticed the arm reaching out to deliver a lariat into his stomach. The force of him landing on the arm drove out all the air in his lungs, his habit of exhaling as he fell did not exactly help. He managed to hold on to consciousness, his current state of lucidity only managed to wonder how the assailant's arm did not tear off.

He felt his feet drag along a flight of stairs. His confusion grew as he realized he was being brought up to a platform.

Words in an unfamiliar tongue rang out blurrily around him, he had never heard this language before, yet he could understand it. His oxygen deprived brain managed to pick out "Giovann..etrayed..our…countr…sentenc…hanging.". It did not bode well.

As he cleared his head with rushed intakes of air, his leg muscles bunched together. Escape would be most wise. His first step backwards folded his legs together. He realised his arms were bound in ropes and a noose dangled before him. Roars came from the crowds before him.

So, the revolutionaries who awaited his head on a silver plate so would soon get their wish. How ironic that the one who had freed this land would be hanged for the crimes he committed to do so. A man at the corners of his eyes gestured toward his supposed executioner. "Do it."

A pig of a man snorted and squealed as the executioner's hands tightened around the handle that would loosen the boards at his feet. Then his eyes widened and his face paled. Altair turned his head to the direction many were now pointing at, a man with a white hood, carrying the seal of the Assassin's Creed openly standing atop a building. Altair groaned. Have they run out of real assassins, needing to send this eye-catching fool instead?

Leaping down, he walked brazenly into the circle of guards who have now surrounded him. Altair slapped himself in his face mentally. "Of all the things to do! He had better have a plan." The Assassin raised his left hand and with a familiar flick of the wrist, the Hidden Blade slid out and Altair knew his plan had no regard for stealth. With a flash of silver, the guard stepped back clutching where his eye once was, howling in pain at the loss of it. The Hidden Blade, now crimson with blood, stayed by the Assassin's side as the rest of the guards gaped at the speed of his movements.

"Strike now while they are dazed, fool!"

And at the second he thought so, the Assassin did so. He broke through the guard's amateurish shielding as they attempted to hold him off. Blood sprayed out as he withdrew the blade from a guard's exposed throat. The Assassin took a familiar back step as a pair of guards thrust their spears at him in unison, before ducking below them and gutting them in one swift motion.

Soon all the guards lay dead or dying, the crowds slowly retreating at the sight of such ferocious skill. There was no real opposition to his prowess, Altair decided to revise his thoughts about this Assassin. At that thought, the Assassin looked up from a guard's slowly dying body, his cowl shifting backwards slightly.

The Masyaf Assassin felt his stomach flip. He was him. No, he's standing there, how can he be at the gallows then? He was the one about to be executed!

Memories, thoughts, words, languages that sounded so familiar all burst into his head. They were as much his native tongue as they were foreign. He recoiled from the shock as he lost himself in the sea of memories. People were shouting his name. Everyone was shouting his name. But his name, it did not sound like that…

The background of Masyaf crumbled away, eventually leaving nothing but a field of white. An tower of white ivory tower burst out, spreading pieces of Venice scenery about. One of which struck him painfully in his open palm as it raised on instinct. It reminded him of the moment he had been marked an Assassin. The sting, it awoke Ezio, as he realised he had been day dreaming on the roofs of Venezia. No, it felt too real to be a day dream.

"Strange. Far too strange," He stood up to go and tell the others of his strange vision. He realised no longer was he standing on Venezia's roofs but in a room. A shimmering window of clear glass reflecting him. Not as he was now, but younger. So much younger.

He reached towards it, confused at the sight and found himself flung through the now open window, hurtling towards the ground. The soft hay cushioned his blow and he burst out of it. The surroundings had flickered and changed into the Auditore family villa's backyard.

He came here for someone. Or was it something? A butterfly fluttered across his eyes, and then he remembered. Yes, the butterfly. It continued to goad his inability to catch it. He was so close when he jumped at it through the windowsill of the tower.

Ezio's hand snapped out once again and made a grab for the insect, missing it by a hair's breadth. His hands continued to reach out, all of his attempts missing their nimble target. The butterfly flapped about almost lazily, as if mocking his lack of skill. A voice sounded out from behind him, "Still trying to catch the butterfly, my boy? Here, try this."

A pair of arms, strong but all so gentle, reached from behind him, a blue rose in hand. Placing the flower in Ezio's hands, the arms held them up as they both waited. The butterfly moved about for a while before it drew in at Ezio's stillness. Noticing the flower, it floated down and settled down on one of its petals. The dark blue petal mixed with the sapphire coming off the insect's wings. Something told him it did not deserve to die by his hand; it had done nothing to deserve it.

"Good," Ezio heard the voice say proudly, "You can see its innocence can't you?"

Ezio nodded slowly, his eyes transfixed by the butterfly's glow. Its wings started flapping and it took off, its glow leaving a trail of sapphire dust. As he turned to follow it, he noticed the villa had changed into a strange looking place, it was unfamiliar but yet he knew this place was called The Farm. His home. No, his home was elsewhere. But this nostalgic feeling-

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the voice behind him, "Learn to wait, my son, your enemies will come to you."

The voice gave Ezio the same eerie feeling that he knew but did know, he turned to try and remember this voice. His eyes met the man's face and that feeling only grew stronger. The man was also looking at him but at the same time not. He knew the man but he could not place where he had seen him.

But Desmond knew him. How could he forget the one who taught him how to fight and protect himself, of which he had forced himself to forget. How could he forget the man he had run away from? Desmond stared at his father before he recoiled against the dream.

He bolted straight up from his bed and screaming at the pain his head was giving. He was back in his room, or as Shaun would call it, Desmond's temporary hospital room. Rebecca and Shaun stood by his side worriedly as he ripped the sheets off. He glanced about wildly for Lucy before his mixed memories snapped into place. He turned to Rebecca and asked quickly, "Is she…?"

Rebecca pursed her lips before answering, "She's still inside the Animus Online but she's fine."

"And who were those people back there?"

Shaun replied, "That's what I'd like to know," He took out his laptop and started tapping on a few keys, "And judging from those trace signatures we analysed, they were using Templar tech."

"Abstergo's still onto us? Won't they find out this hideout now?"

"We managed to hide that from them, they're probably more focused on getting their hands on the information that we encrypted in the Apple," Shaun replied as his fingers continued to fly across the keyboard.

Desmond nodded and fell silent, his head still throbbing from that dream. Something about Ezio and Altair and…a butterfly? Desmond quickly tried to collect fragments of his quickly fading dream; suddenly Shaun spoke, cutting down his effort.

What I'd like to know now is how they cracked our backdoor security," Shaun said, the tapping of the keyboard pausing as he scratched the back of his head.

Desmond's brow lifted as his curiosity rose; he pushed the thoughts of his dreams aside, and asked, "Backdoor?"

"It's something we use to modify the system; from there we have complete control of how the system works." Shaun answered Desmond as he stood up.

"And they got into the most important part of the Animus Online so easily how?"

"Like I said, I wish I knew," Shaun grunted out, shrugging his shoulders, "They either have more than a hundred supercomputers to get in that quickly or they knew the pass codes before they even started."

"So we have someone working for them here?"

"That's only a guess," Rebecca suddenly offered from the corner of the room, where she was picking up her laptop.

Desmond sat on the side of his bed and pressed his fingers into his temples, "So let me get this straight, we're up against Templar hackers-"

"Or people working for Abstergo," Shaun cut in as he sipped on a cup of coffee.

"Yea and they have complete control over the Animus Online."

"That's all we know now," Rebecca answered, and strangely quite timidly.

He felt rage boil up from inside him, from his own and their incompetence. No, the rage was from somewhere else, the dream maybe, but his thoughts were only here and now. "It's not their fault they couldn't have predicted this," He thought before he asked again, barely keeping his anger in check, "So how the fuck do we get her out?"

Shaun closed the laptop and answered calmly, "We already have an idea how to get in, we just need to fine tune it so you don't end up with spaghetti for brains."

"Don't worry Desmond, we'll find a way." Rebecca reassured almost nervously. Suddenly Desmond saw Shaun try to sneak a yawn behind her back.

Desmond felt regret stab him for not controlling his anger better as he noticed his friend's dark eye bags. "They've been working for who knows how long, while I've been sleeping my ass off," he lamented.

He looked at them and struggled to find the right words to say, "I'm sorry guys, it's just-I…"

"It's nothing. Go get some more rest, we'll be done with this thing soon then it's back into the system for you," Sean cut in again before walking out quickly with Rebecca following him.

He sat alone in the room, the clock on the bedside ticking away the seconds. He tried to remember the dream once more; it had something to do with a butterfly. Suddenly the door clicked and his thoughts scattered as he hurriedly got up from the bed.

"I apologise for the intrusion Master Desmond, I am here to check on some of the systems," One of the Creed's Acolytes said while carrying in a laptop.

Desmond slumped back onto the bed and mumbled a "oh". The Acolyte went over to a box in the room and connected his laptop to it and starting tapping on a few keys.

The monotonous tapping of the keyboard replaced the ticking of the clock for a while; suddenly the Acolyte spoke up, breaking it. "I'm sorry about Mistress Lucy."

"Huh?" Desmond said before realising who he was referring to, he waved it aside, "Oh it's fine."

Silence reigned again before Desmond noticed something, his Eagle Vision was not activated, but he saw familiarity. He could not tell, his head still hurt from whatever happened in the dream.

"Have I seen you before? I know all of you Acolytes pretty much look the same with those hoods on all the time and but you look familiar somehow." He said, squinting at the Acolyte.

The Acolyte pulled back his hood and revealed the face of a young man in his twenties, his jet black hair combed neatly to the side. Small, rectangular spectacles hung off his sharp nose. The way he looked just seemed to enforce the thoughts, "Highly disciplined" into Desmond's head.

"You truly are a sharp Assassin, Master Desmond; I was the Acolyte which was sent to wake you up earlier."

"Really? Well sorry about kicking you in the chest that time," Desmond answered sheepishly, his hand reaching back to scratch to back.

"It is of no consequence," The Acolyte replied to, still focusing on the laptop.

Eager to avoid another bout of silence, Desmond fired off a second question. "So what're you doing?"

"I am the Eagle's Nest Human Resource Manager; therefore I am in-charge of finding the traitor who gave our enemies the system's backdoor codes."

Desmond nodded and put his hands together hopefully before asking, "Anything yet?"

"Unfortunately I have only just recently started, and so nothing of interest has appeared yet, " The Acolyte answered while turning to face Desmond.

"I see," his heart sinking as he said that.

"Worry not, I will find this person soon enough." The Acolyte said, clasping his hands together, rubbing them, his face still obscured by the cowl.

"Tha-," Desmond got cut off just a speaker by the wall crackled into life blaring out Shaun's voice, "Will the block headed Assassin please go to where the Animus is," The speaker crackled for a few seconds before Shaun spoke again, "That would be you, Desmond."

"Well that's my cue," Desmond said as he stood up

"It has been an honor talking to you, Master Desmond," The Acolyte stood up to bow as Desmond headed to the door.

"Yea same here uhh..Mister.." Desmond faltered as he realised he did not know the Acolyte's name.

"Dominic, Master Desmond."

"Yea I'll see you later," Desmond smiled as he opened the door.

"And hopefully I will have information for you when you do see me."

"I hope so too," Desmond said quickly as he left.

* * *

Shaun waved his hand in acknowledgement as he heard the -ding- of the elevator resound against the floor's walls. Soon enough Desmond appeared and promptly sat down on the Animus.

"So we ready?" He asked, his voice remaining calm as the catheter pierced his skin.

"We certainly are," Shaun answered with his usual smug tone without looking back as he tapped a few keys, "Now remember Desmond, use what you have left for a brain to find Lucy and get her out."

Desmond turned to Rebecca to see her snap at Shaun's tone but she continued to face to the computer screen.

He put it off as her being tired nodded before he pulled the visor over his face. Shaun looked over and smirked, "Try not to mess up like before."

Desmond barely returned the smirk before he plunged into a world of white.

He felt his feet touch the endless white landscape, Ezio's armor already appearing on him. He splayed his hands open and watched the Hidden Blades slide out.

"Hey Desmond, you hear me?" Shaun's voice echoed inside his head

"Loud and clear," Desmond replied.

"Ok we're going to load you into the Animus Online," Shaun continued, "Now it might hurt a bit since we're practically compressing you and sending you into the system.

"What do you mean?" Desmond asked, the instinctual fear of pain creeping up on him.

"What it means, Desmond, is that we're sending you there stealthily," Shaun replied.

"No, not that, what do you mean by 'a bit'? "

"Well..it's only a bit," Shaun answered before he quickly said, "Oh it's starting."

"Wait what does 'a bit' mea-AGHHHHHH! FFFFUUUC-"

And the endless field of white flickered away.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! And sorry for the wait(Final exams and all).**

******Also maybe the fact Brotherhood is out delayed me? Man..it's awesome.**

******If I had to say, this fanfic would probably fit in between AC2 and AC:B.**

**Review if you want me to see your opinion. Or just fave for support. For those who did, thanks. It means a lot :)**

**Till next time!**


	4. Glitches

**I do not own Assassin's Creed. It all belongs to the excellent team at Ubisoft.**

* * *

Ezio stared at the walls of Monteriggioni. He finally reached it, a life of absolute peace. He could not wait to remove the Missaglias armor he was wearing. It was heavy, but now that his burden was gone, it felt much lighter. Rodrigo Borgia would not dare try anything against the Auditore now. He grimaced as he thought how different things could be if his father and brothers were still alive. Sweeping aside those thoughts, Ezio walked towards his home.

It seemed like no matter how many years passed, those huge walls did not change. The Villa looked just as he had left it. Almost as if time had stopped around it. Ezio halted just in front of the gate.

He could remember discussing with Uncle Mario before about buying some cannons for the battlements. They should be there by now. In fact, he even asked him to upgrade the towers on the battlements. Yet Monteriggioni looked exactly as he had left it, like a something captured in a painting.

Suddenly a voice appeared in his head, he could feel it did not belong there. It belonged to a woman. Her accent was strange, yet familiar. No, it was not her accent that was familiar. It was her voice.

"Desmond, you there?"

_Desmond! The moving image in the Vatican mentioned that name! Did this woman know him?_

"Of course he's there, he's on screen isn't he?" A second voice spoke inside his head. A man, his tone was sarcastic and just like the woman's voice, it was familiar. The man's voice spoke again, "Could you go find those hackers now, Desmond? I didn't do all the hard work so you could just stand there."

_His name again? What we're these people after? Perhaps it was related to a "hacker"._

"Yea, I'll get going," Ezio thought. _Wait, he said that. He? A third voice? No, this was different. It was not a voice. It was a person. Ezio paused to feel his thoughts and realised he was just part of this person, the sum of a much larger whole. The shock of the realization pushed away his thoughts and in turn, his being._

Desmond shook his head a bit; he felt a bit strange standing in front of Monteriggioni.

Shaun's voice crackled into life inside his head, "Enjoying the nostalgia, Desmond?"

"Yea, something like that."

"Yes well it's no problem, we have plenty of time," Shaun's disembodied voice layered in sarcasm continued, "In fact, how about you take a picture while you're at it?"

"No, it's just…" Desmond trailed off.

Seconds of silence ticked by.

"Just what?"

"Nothing," Desmond muttered before walking through the gates. He only took a few steps when something had bumped into his leg. Desmond glanced down and saw young boy picking himself up from the ground in front of his leg. The boy stood up and started chasing some other children. As Desmond's eyes followed them, he noticed more people started appearing. Walking about, talking and buying from stalls.

"Uhh Shaun, why are there people walking around?" Desmond asked as he moved aside to let a group pass.

"So they didn't remove my little project huh." Shaun noted happily.

Rebecca's voice buzzed into life inside Desmond's head, "Project?"

"If you had to code the Animus Online all day, you would have started doing things like this."

"What do they do anyway?" Desmond asked curiously as he prodded a man only to have the man turn towards him and glare.

"Simple stuff like walk around, engage in talking gibberish with others, screaming when someone pulls out a sword," Shaun replied, "Stuff like that, I mean, just coding the same thing all day long is so…draining.

"Nah. I could do it all day," Rebecca answered with some of her swagger back.

Shaun sighed, "I will never understand you women."

"You think we don't feel the same about men?" Rebecca shot back.

Desmond rolled his eyes as they continued to quarrel. He did not need them using his head like a battlefield, so he quickly broke them up. "Guys, what am I supposed to be looking for?"

"It's not being sexist, it's calle-huh?" Shaun said, "Hang on, since they didn't remove the civilians, this should work as well."

Desmond heard laptop keys being tapped before a brilliant light flashed into his eyes. He raised a hand to shield his eyes and let it drop once the glare died down; floating in front of him now was a rectangular shaped holographic screen around the size of his palm. It displayed what looked very much like a map of Monteriggioni.

"Whoa," Desmond did not mask his surprise as he moved his hand through the screen just to see it fizzle apart before forming back as he pulled his hand away.

"Yes Desmond, 'Whoa' would be the proper word to describe this," Shaun said smugly as more tapping continued in the background, "Now if you look at the map, I uploaded where we detected any of Abstergo's tech.

Desmond glanced about the map and squinted to see the Villa Auditore was covered in a red circle. "Any chance you can make the screen bigger?"

"Try grabbing the corners and pulling it," Shaun offered.

Desmond continued as he pinched the top right and bottom left corners of the screen and pulled, the screen stretched as he his hands got further apart. Soon it became six times its original size, "This is amazing."

Suddenly, Rebecca shouted, "Desmond! People around you are staring!"

Desmond stopped fooling around with the screen and realised that every person on the street was staring at him, or rather, at the floating screen.

"Must be a glitch, no one else should be able to see the map," Shaun grumbled before tapping a few keys and shutting the screen down.

"Any other glitchy projects we need to know of?" Rebecca asked derisively.

"Hey! Some of them work fine," Shaun snapped back, "There's one that shows server strain, a gravitational magnitude calculator, a antivirus program, eve-."

Desmond's eyes widened and he quickly cut Shaun off, "Did you say antivirus program?"

"Huh? Oh. Don't worry, they're harmless," Shaun said dismissively, "Can't even draw their swords right."

"Another glitch," Rebecca noted.

"Shut up, Rebecca," Shaun answered, half groaning.

"Is that the antivirus program?" Desmond asked again, watching a group of guards turn around the corner.

Shaun sighed and Desmond could hear a chair swiveling, he must have been facing Rebecca just now, "They're designed to look like the guard's in Ezio's memories and act like them, so if they do, the answer is yes."

The guards noticed Desmond and started running towards him.

"Uhh..Shaun, they're running towards me."

"Harmless, Desmond," Shaun reminded him.

The guards unsheathed their weapons and raised them ready, sharp steel glinting off the sun's rays.

"Desmond, run!" Rebecca yelled out.

The modern day Assassin about faced and started pumping his legs.

"Shaun! Explanation!" Desmond cried out into the air while shoving through a group of civilians, "Now!"

He could hear the frantic tapping of keys before Shaun replied, "Hackers must have fixed that."

"Is that all you have to say?" Desmond huffed out cynically as he ran down the street, the guard behind hollering Italian words at him. After exploring Ezio's memories for so long, he could guess they wanted him to stop running. Fat chance.

"Well I can't change it since I have no access to the mainframe," Shaun snapped back, "Let's see if we can use another loophole."

The holographic map reappeared and had an icon moving across the screen with more red dots chasing it from behind. "Is that me?"

"Do you see anyone else being chased by a horde of enemies in your area?" Shaun said, his usual sarcastic tone setting back in, "Turn around the next corner and jump into the haystack in front of you."

"What?"

"Turn and jump now!"

Desmond curved around the corner and a haystack was waiting. He leaped into it just like he done before as Ezio and Altair, then he sat there completely still. A few seconds of silence passed, stretching like ages before Shaun's voice whispered from inside his head, "Don't worry, the second they lose sight of their targets, they'll just walk aw-"

A steel blade pierced the hay directly in front of Desmond's face, it was quickly followed by a spear stabbing past his ear. Desmond drew the dagger at his side instinctively; drawing a sword would take too long and would be troublesome in this position. He leapt backwards, exploding out of the hay, holding his dagger in a reverse grip.

Suddenly his dagger stabbed through something. Desmond turned his head and saw a guard with his sword raised, staring at the dagger which now protruded from his chest. The guard stumbled backwards before falling to the floor, not before he let go of his sword midair. Desmond snatched the handle with his left hand and quickly put it to use. He spun around and swung towards a surprised guard's unprotected neck.

The blade sliced through cleanly, leaving the guard grasping around his throat to staunch the flow of blood. "Guess they fixed that as well," Shaun grumbled out.

"You think?" Desmond snapped back, already sizing up his enemies. Two swordsmen already dead, but another two were still alive, plus that bloody spearman who almost stabbed him in the hay.

"Desmond, handle those guar-I mean anti-virus programs quickly, looks like more are on the way." Rebecca said.

"I'll see what I can do," Desmond said, his lips forming a smirk.

He turned his back to the dying guard and tested the stolen blade with his left hand. Both Ezio and Altair had trained to be ambidextrous, so now he was the same. He sheathed the dagger, leaving his right hand free, as he looked up. Formations, styles and techniques all flooding into his head. These were anti-virus programs in the shape of guards from Ezio's memories. That, he could take care of. His smirk widened as he dashed forward.

A guard made a preemptive lunge with his sword, leaving his chest exposed to Desmond's thrust. The blade pierced armor, flesh and armor again. Desmond put his foot on to his victim's chest, kicking him into another guard's raised blade. The guard slumped over, dead from the pain of being impaled twice, becoming a dead weight on his fellow guard's sword. The guard tried desperately to pull his sword out as Desmond dashed closer. Desmond splayed his free right hand out and heard the familiar -shick- of the hidden blade sliding out. He aimed for the guard's throat and shot forward. The guard looked up as the blade neared, his eyes wide with fear from watching death speed towards him.

Then the situation felt wrong. Desmond could see the fear in guard's eyes, but his posture was confident of something. His eyes twitched to the side and Desmond's own followed. A spear. He had hoped that the spearman would wait for a moment to strike, then miss his opportunity because he was too slow. It seemed this one was twitchy.

Desmond stopped his lunge and quickly twisted his body around, his sword already rising to meet the spear tip. Metal clashed against metal and even with quick reflexes, it meant nothing if he did not have a good footing to defend. The clash of weapons almost knocked him over and had the sword flying through the air. He stumbled a few steps back and saw a spearman.

The spearman had a smug look on his face as he moved in front of the guard to cover him. The distance between him and the assassin afforded by the long spear gave him that.

"Not for long," Desmond thought.

He breathed in deeply and dashed forward, his arm with the hidden blade drawn back like a taut bowstring. The spearman used both his arms to launch a quick piercing strike towards the assassin's body.

The modern day Assassin watched the spear fly towards him before he kicked in his Eagle Vision. The spear slowed to a crawl, its form covered in an ethereal light that spoke of danger. He sidestepped effortlessly. The spears pointed tip streaking past its mark by centimeters.

The guard's confidence drained away as he realised his mistake. It was too late. Like an arrow, Desmond's hidden blade flew towards the guard. He tried to rectify that, pulling his spear in hopes of using it to defend himself.

Suddenly Desmond's left hand latched onto the retreating spear. Surprise streaked across the spearman's face. "If he's surprised now, wait till he sees what's coming next," Desmond thought quickly as he got ready.

He pulled the spear, causing the surprised guard to fly off his feet, hurtling towards Desmond. Desmond's own pull forced him towards the spearman, but not without the hidden blade ready to strike at the spearman's unprotected face.

The hidden blade found its way into guard shoulder, his head twisting away at the last second. Desmond tsked, but he got what he needed. The pain loosened the spearman's hands around the spear, leaving it in Desmond's possession. The weaponless spearman clutched his shoulder and looked up. Desmond twirled the spear into a two handed grip and charged forward, roaring at the adrenaline he felt.

The steel tip plunged into the weaponless spearman's stomach and exited from behind. Blood leaked from his wound and from his mouth. Desmond did not end his charge there, his Eagle Vision still pointing out an enemy directly behind this one, the one with his sword stuck into the other guard. He lifted the body up with a grunt and pushed forward, the bloodied spear tip streaking towards the guard.

The guard looked down at his sword which was still stuck in the fallen guard's abdomen. He quickly reached out for the fallen guard's sword when death struck him in the chest. The spear tip cut through flesh and embedded itself into the stone buildings of Monteriggioni. The guard's limp bodies hung several inches from the air, the street slowly being dotted with blood. Desmond let go and took several deep breaths.

_Hide_

"Hurry up and hide, Desmond," Shaun voice reminded.

Desmond looked around. He could almost imagine Ezio scurrying up the sides of the walls and hiding from the guards on the rooftops. Hand on a windowsill and foot stepping on a familiar-looking brick that was sticking out, he started climbing.

* * *

More guards appeared and scoured the area. Desmond watched from above. The wave of nostalgia hit him again. Ezio and Altair had seen this many times, it felt he was reliving those moments again.

"Well that's done," Desmond said once he shook off that nostalgic feeling, "Where am I supposed to go?"

"Forgotten already?" Shaun asked.

"I think I did, somewhere between the running, hiding, being discovered and fighting all because someone can't do anything useful," Desmond snapped back.

"What? I couldn't do anything about it!" Shaun answered.

"You could have warned me," Desmond said.

Shaun's voice groaned before he continued, "Fine, I'll make sure to take lessons in peering into the future in my free time."

"Desmond, head towards the Villa Auditore," Rebecca spoke out, "It's where we've detected signs of Abstergo tech around."

Desmond turned away from the street below and looked towards the Villa. The shiver he felt at the gate happened again.

"So what do I do once I find that hacker?" he asked, eyes on the Villa.

The tapping of keys resumed for a few seconds before Shaun spoke, "You use this."

Desmond noticed a flare of light shining from his hip. He looked down and saw his dagger as the source of the glow. He used his Eagle Vision and saw long trails of data flowing into the dagger. His eyes followed the trail of the data back and he realised it came from him.

"Uhh..my Eagle Vision is letting me see some sort of data coming out of my body," Desmond said.

"Really? That's interesting," Shaun noted, "It's true since we are using your body as a medium to interact with the Animus Online right now."

"So I can change stuff around me?"

"Well, technically only we can," Shaun explained, "Of course you need to be in direct contact with it, which your dagger is."

Desmond unsheathed the dagger and stared at it. To his eyes, it looked unchanged. The Eagle Vision, however, gave the dagger a different glow than all the other weapons he'd seen. "So what does it do now?"

Rebecca spoke, explaining to Desmond. "It acts like virus, if you stab someone using a Animus with it, it'll steal all the information they have and forcibly remove them from the Animus Online."

"We had to make sure your brain could understand how to use it, hence it looks and works like a dagger," Shaun's voice spoke out sarcastically, "So we'll have no problems with you burying it into someone's chest."

Desmond rolled his eyes and sheathed the weapon. "Will it hurt them?"

"The dagger stabbing into them or being forcibly removed?" Shaun asked.

"Both."

"The Animus Online works like a real world, so they'll feel the pain," Shaun answered, "Being removed like that from a world that connects to all your senses would probably will hurt as well."

Desmond smiled and started towards the Villa. "Let's do this," He mumbled out.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**

**I thought this one would be a short chapter, but somehow it's length extended as I wrote it. Whoops. Sorry!**

**Leave a review if you think I did something wrong or really well! Or just fav for support! It means a lot. Thanks to those who have! Keep reading!**


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